Automatic replenishing system for heater-reservoirs of oil-engines.



P. D. PANOULlAS.

AUTOMAHC REPLENISHING SYSTEM FOR HEATER RESEBVOIRS OF OIL ENGlNES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT- 24. 3918 Patented Feb. 25, 1919.

INVENTOR ATTORNEY PANAYIOTIS D. PANOULIAS, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY.

AUTOMATIC REPLENISHING SYSTEM FOR HEATEB-RESEBVOIRS OF OIL-ENGINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 25, 1919.

Application flled October 24, 1918. Serial No. 259,584.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PANAYIOTIS D. PANOU- LIAS, a subject of the King of Greece, and a resident of Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Automatic Replenishin System for Heater-Reservoirs, of Oilngine's, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to internal combustion heavy oil engines of the kind wherein .the oil is injected in an atomized spray,

against the ressure of a charge of air previously esta lished in the cylinder, into an unjacketed vaporizer chamber forming part of the combustion space. During the normal running of the engine the wall of this chamber againstwhi'ch the spray impinges is kept hot by the combustion process so as to vaporize and ignite the fuel, but in starting it is necessary to heat the wall from an external source. For this purpose it is customary to provide an oil-burning torch supplied from a small reservoir, which requires to be filled with can and funnel at intervals. The purpose of my invention is to provide means whereby this reservoir can be replenished in a clean and expeditious manner, from a source which is not subject to ntimel exhaustion, and with few and sim le ad ed parts, which can be readily app ied to existing installations as well as to new engines. This is accomplished by the provision of connections between said reservoir and the circulator fuel supply system of the en ine, the pre erred embodiment of which will now be described.

The drawing is a view, somewhat simplified, of an engine of the kind referred to and its appurtenances necessary to an understanding or the invention, partly in vertical section and partly in elevation.

The engine 1 selected for illustration is a horizontal four-cycle engine, having an unjacketed va orizing and ignitin chamber 2 support in projecting relation at its head end and in communication with the combustion space of the cylinder through a port 3. Usual valves 4, 5, for air intake and exhaust, are mounted in the top of said chamber, and a fuel-injection valve or s rayer 6 is inserted through the side wall t ereof in downwardly inclined position, so as to direct its spray upon the bottom wall. This wall can be externally heated by means of a torch 7 beneath it, this torch having connections 8 and 9 for compressed air and 011 respectively, the pipe 9 leading from the bottom of a reservoir 10. The said reser voir also has a compressed air connection 11 entering its top, and is supplied like the pipe 8 from the source of startin air with which the engine is provided. en the torch is to be operated the valves 12 and 13 in the two air lines and the valve 14 in the oil line are opened, whereupon oil is driven from the reservoir into the torch, where it encounters the blast of air from the connection 8. At such time a vent valve 15 and a valve 16 in a replenishing connection 17, hereinafter referred to, are closed.

18 indicates the usual bulk supply tank of which is located near the engine and kept.

supplied by an engine-operated pump 21. A re ativel large overflow pipe 22, by the position o u er end, determines a constant level in t is reservoir, and during the operation of the engine returns oil to the bulk-sup ly tank, with which it is con nected, t e pump 21being designed to supply an excess to the reservoir. The overow or return pipe 22 thus constitutes one side of a circulatory loop through which oil is passing when the engine is running. The sprayefifi of the vaporizer is supplied from this loop through a branch 23' containing an engine-driven pump 24 connected in.

such relation to the reservoir 20 that the supply for said pump is under constant pressure or head. A continuation 25 of the ranch 23 extends to the sprayer, where the oil will be injected into the vaporizer at the proper times under the pressure due to the pump 24 and against the pressure existing in the cylinder. fuel thus injected is subject to automatic regulation by a governor 26 controlling a needle valve 27 commanding an escape ort in a byass 28, the return ine 29 of w ich may lea back to the reservoir 20. These are the regular fuel injection and regulation provisions in a commercial t pe of engine, and require no further description, nor do I, necessarily limit myself thereto.

Coming now to the more particularly novel elements of the present combination as designed in connection with the described existing organization, the torch reservoir 10 is provided as stated with a valved The amount of oil inlet 17. A valve 30 is inserted at a convenient point in the overflow pipe 22, whereby the flow passage at this point can be opened or closed. At the upper or upstream side of said valve a branch pipe 31 is connected, this pipe extending over the reservoir 10, where it turns downward in a nozzle or spout 32, the discharge from which may be regulated by a valve 33. The oil when permitted to flow from the spout 32 is received in a cup 34 on the upper end of the inlet connection 17, and any excess is returned through another branch 35 leadin from said cup back to the overflow pipe 2 below or beyond the valve 30. The branches 31 and 35, with the spout 32 and cup 34, thus constitute a loop containing a simple form of sight indicator.

With the foregoing instrumentalities the torch reservoir may be filled at any time during the running of the engine, b simply closin the valve 30 and opening tile valve 16 an the vent valve 15. This diverts the flow from a section of the overflow pipe 22 through the loop 31, 35 and fills the reservoir automaticall and without danger of spilling. The va ve 31 is thereu on opened and the valves 16 and 15 are c osed. The valve 16, it will be perceived, prevents the air pressure introduced through pipe 11 into the top of the reservoir when the torch is used in the starting of the engine, escapin by way of the oil supply connections.

at I claim as new is:

1. The combination with an oil engine of the kind wherein the fuel is injected against pressure in the cylinder, possessing a vaporizer and a sprayer for introducing the fuel therein, an external heater for the vaporizer, a bulk supply tank and a circulatory system for supplying the sprayer, of a reservoir for supplying said heater with fuel, and means for replenishing said reservoir from said circulatory system. v

2. The combination with an oil engine of the kind wherein the fuel is injected against pressure in the cylinder, possessing a vaporizer and a sprayer for introducing the fuel therein, an external heater for the va orizer, a bulk supply tank, a constant leve reservoir, a circulatory loop including a branch leading from the tank to the reservoir and including a pump and an overflow line leading from the reservoir back to the tank, and means for withdrawing fuel from the constant level tank and supplying it under regula'ble pressure to the sprayer, of another reservoir or supplying the vaporizer heater, and means for replenishing said reservoir from said overflow line.

3. The combination with an oil engine havin there or, a bulk fuel supply tank, and means for supplying the engine therefrom includ ing a return line leadin back to the tank, of a reservoir for supp ying the vaporizer heater, and a loop connected with said return line for replenishing said reservoir.

4. The combination with an oil engine havin a vaporizer and an external heater there or, a bulk fuel supply tank, and means for supplyin the engine therefrom including a return ine leadin back to the tank, of a reservoir for supp ying the vaporizer heater, a valve for obstructing the flow at a point in said return line, branches leading to and from said line around the obstruction, and a connection between said branches and the reservoir for replenishing the latter. 5. The combination with an Oll engine of the kind wherein the fuel is injected against pressure in the cylinder, possessing a vaporizer and a sprayer for introducing the fuel therein, an external heater for the vaporizer, a bulk supply tank and a, circulatory system for supplying the sprayer, of a reserwoir for supplying said heater with fuel, means for introduc ng air pressure into and reservoir to force the oil to the heater, and connections for replenishing said reservoi said circulatory system including in us for preventin escape of said air pressure when introduc into the reservoir.

PANAYIOTIS D. PANOULIAS from a vaporizer and an external heater 

